Missed Free Throw Shouldn’t Obscure Durant’s Extraordinary Efforts To Keep Nets Ship Afloat Through Troubled Waters
With all the off-the-court drama swirling around Nets World in the last week, from Kyrie Irving’s ignorant social media posting and subsequent banishment; to the rumors as to whether suspended Boston coach Ime Udoka will be hired to permanently replace the ousted Steve Nash to lead Brooklyn’s bench; to Ben Simmons’ ongoing battles with physical and mental health; the remaining players could be forgiven if they sometimes failed to keep their eye on the ball during games.
Instead, the Nets have been playing noticeably harder and more cohesively. Despite falling, 96-94, in Dallas on Monday night, Brooklyn took two-of-three games on this mini road trip.
You can credit interim coach Jacque Vaughn for keeping his club focused on the tasks at hand and devising game plans that maximized their diminished skillsets with Irving out, but let’s not understate how much this team is relying on Kevin Durant to keep the ship afloat.
The numbers don’t tell the whole story—Durant’s averages of 27 points, 7 rebounds, and 5.7 assists on a shooting split of 49.2/30.8/89.5 over the last three games are actually down from last season’s production. After helping lead a furious Brooklyn rally from 11 points down in the final four minutes on Monday night, he’s probably still kicking himself for missing the middle free throw with 5.6 seconds remaining that could have tied the game after getting fouled in the act of shooting from three-point territory.
Still, what KD has done to manage these games on both ends has been beyond extraordinary. Without the supremely gifted Irving running at his side and no one other than reserve Cam Thomas who can gain an advantage off the dribble, Durant has had to navigate all sorts of junk defenses geared towards making him give up the ball. The double and triple teams have tested his patience and forced him to exercise better judgement—his turnovers are down from earlier in the season despite the extra attention on him.
There’s been little rest on defense wither. Vaughn had Durant act as the primary defender on Dallas star Luka Doncic, though in reality, the Nets switch so often on screens that Doncic was able to do most of his damage (36 points) against weaker defenders. However, unlike in the first meeting between the two clubs, a 129-125 Dallas overtime victory in Brooklyn two weeks ago when Doncic tallied 14 assists, the Nets were able to pay better attention to the other guys, as Doncic was limited to 6 assists, his second-lowest total this season.
Durant has been leading both by example and vocally. If he can get after it by diving on the floor for loose balls and making the correct basketball plays by passing, there’s no excuse for others to play with less energy and intelligence. And when the Nets put the hurt on Washington on Friday night in the first game of the trip, no one was cheering harder for the garbage time crew from the bench.
The following night on a difficult road back-to-back in Charlotte, the Nets again found themselves trailing by 10 points midway through the fourth quarter. Durant then took over, scoring nine points over the last 6:18, including a killer three-ball followed by a pull-up mid-range jumper to keep Brooklyn up by two possessions in the final minute.
The joy on Durant’s face after that game told us everything about why the Nets have to do whatever it takes to keep him as happy as possible. Even at 34, there simply aren’t that many players in the league (Doncic is one) who can carry such a mediocre supporting cast to victories.
I’m sure there will be ongoing analysis in the media over whether Durant will grow weary of such a load—his offseason request to be traded and subsequent rescission had Nets fans in need of therapy—should the organization and his pal Irving fail to reconcile. Despite how well the team played on this trip, the Nets (4-7) still find themselves in a bit of a hole with a four-game West Coast trip on tap for next week after Wednesday’s home tilt against the rival Knicks.
I doubt that even a coach like Udoka, should Nets owner Joseph Tsai allay his misgivings over Udoka’s alleged stalking of female underlings in the Celtics office, could cure all that ails this club. Ergo, it isn’t far-fetched that Durant, despite the three seasons remaining on his contract, could look to bail and that this time, as Sports Illustrated’s Howard Beck suggested, the Nets accommodate him and burn it all down.
As I’ve noted previously, what a shame that would be. Here we have one of the greatest players of all time, playing at or near the peak of his powers (even after suffering a devastating Achilles tear in the 2019 NBA Finals while with Golden State) and it’s drowned out by all the outside noise.
Enjoy it while you can.